White House Announces Hacking Event

The White House seems an unlikely place to encourage hacking, but the government just announced the National Day of Civic Hacking. This event is following the popular hackathon format where people come together in an open source type of way to solve problems, in this case, in American cities, communities, and states.

According to the announcement:

The National Day of Civic Hacking is a call to action for anyone who wants to make a positive impact on their town, city, and country. A coalition of leading organizations, companies, and government agencies have banded together to issue this challenge with the goal of promoting transparency, participation, and collaboration among governments, startups, and citizens. These partners will support Civic Hacking Day by hosting activities across the country that invite anyone to become part of the civic hacker community—whether you’re a newbie or an expert—and by connecting people in person or online during the weekend celebration.

The event is taking place in conjunction with Random Hacks of Kindness and Code for America's Brigade meetings and is being modeled after the Innovation Endeavors’ Super Happy Block Party. A number of Federal agencies, including NASA, the Census Bureau, and the Department of Labor, are participating by offering specific challenges for hackers to work during the event.

I've been a fan of the Code for America project which has inspired a large number of civic-minded and open source coders to share what they know to improve our communities with technology solutions. It is an impressive effort and this White House call to action made a wise decision to partner with them.